I am intense. No question about it.
-- Roger Clemens
Our topic for today, as promised, is the National League Cy Young Award. As it happens, I think we have an excellent historical analogy, both handy and relevant. Consider the following season:
W L G GS CG SH SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP ERA *lgERA *ERA+ 26 9 38 38 30 5 0 326.0 295 106 88 21 46 218 6 8 1307 2.43 2.96 122This pitcher led his league in Wins, Innings, Complete Games, and K/W ratio.
He polled no votes at all. Not a sausage. Bugger-all.
Perhaps the voters were disappointed with his performance? His name, of course, was Juan Marichal and the year was 1968. This was the famous Summer of the Pitcher, and in St. Louis Bob Gibson was having a season for the ages - 22-9, 1.12, 13 shutouts, 28 CG in 34 starts.
I haven't heard anyone say it - not yet anyway - but isn't it possible that Roger Clemens in 2004 has been better than Bob Gibson in 1968? Gibson posted his 1.12 ERA in a season when the league ERA was 2.96. Roger Clemens at this moment has a 1.32 ERA in a year when the National League ERA is 4.28.
I don't think the question is whether Roger Clemens has been the best pitcher in the National League this season. I think a better question might be whether Roger Clemens, at age 42, is having the best season of any pitcher, ever.
This is very bad luck for Chris Carpenter, just as it was for Juan Marichal. Carpenter's 2005 season is probably better than the seasons posted by at least seven of the last ten Cy Young winners. Bad timing, Chris.
But it could be worse. Just ask Juan Marichal. Here are Marichal's seasons from 1963 through 1966:
W L G GS CG SH SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP ERA *lgERA *ERA+ 25 8 41 40 18 5 0 321.3 259 102 86 27 61 248 2 2 1270 2.41 3.19 132 21 8 33 33 22 4 0 269.0 241 89 74 18 52 206 1 4 1089 2.48 3.57 144 22 13 39 37 24 10 1 295.3 224 78 70 27 46 240 4 2 1153 2.13 3.61 169 25 6 37 36 25 4 0 307.3 228 88 76 32 36 222 5 3 1180 2.23 3.68 165He didn't get any Cy Young votes - zero, nada, none - in any of those years, either.
Anyway, here's my ballot:
1. Roger Clemens, Houston
2. Chris Carpenter, St. Louis
3. Pedro Martinez, New York
4. Roy Oswalt, Houston
5. Dontrelle Willis, Florida
The day's games:
AL
Texas (Rogers 11-5, 2.99) at Cleveland (Sabathia 8-9, 5.10) 7:05
Boston (TBA) at Detroit (Robertson 5-10, 4.10) 7:05
New York (Johnson 11-7, 4.29) at Tampa Bay (Waechter 4-8, 5.32) 7:15
Minnesota (Radke 7-10, 3.71) at Chicago (Garcia 11-5, 3.64) 8:05
Toronto (Downs 1-2, 5.02) at Los Angeles (Byrd 9-7, 3.88) 10:05
Baltimore (Chen 9-6, 4.16) at Oal;and (Blanton 7-9, 4.05) 10:05
Kansas City (Greinke 3-14, 6.09) at Seattle (Pineiro 4-7, 5.69) 10:05
NL
Washington (Drese 7-12, 5.67) at Philadelphia (Lidle 9-10, 4.61) 7:05
San Diego (Lawrence 6-12, 4.80) at Florida (Vargas 3-0, 2.38 ERA) 7:05
San Francisco (Schmidt 9-6, 4.29) at Cincinnati (Milton 6-12, 6.48) 7:10
Pittsburgh (Redman 5-12, 4.75) at New York (Benson 8-4, 3.54) 7:10
Los Angeles (Lowe 8-11, 3.97) at Atlanta (Smoltz 12-6, 2.90) 7:35
Chicago (Maddux 9-9, 4.54) at Houston (Pettitte 10-8, 2.62) 8:05
Arizona (Halsey 8-8, 3.96) at St.Louis (Suppan 11-8, 4.12) 8:10
Milwaukee (Santos 3-11, 4.18) at Colorado (Francis 11-8, 5.77) 9:05
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050815154609764